I purchased six trial vials of the stuff on Ebay for twenty bucks (it's usually 80 online) from a well reviewed seller, have been using this on old acne marks and scars for two or three days--haven't changed anything else in what I do with make-up or topicals--and woke up yesterday with the cysts I used to get before Accutane--big, hard, deep, so filled with gook the pore was open. I pushed the stuff out (gross--sorry)...it seemed never-ending. It's a big swollen semi-hard wound now after (gently) using tissued fingers to push out some of the pus today. (I couldn't help it--it's maddening.)

I am horrified. Maybe I just haven't been minding keeping my hair out of my face enough, maybe it's because it's almost that time of the month, but these hurt so much and they're disgusting.

Have any of you used Skinceuticals Phyto+ successfully? Could it be something else? I have been on Aldactone for two and a half years--I hate this drug, but it kept stuff like this at bay. (I'm still on it. This is how unhelpful it is. 50 mg and I have the joint pain and tiredness, with minimal acne prevention).

I take a multivitamin and eat a lot of veggies.

I use retinoids sporadically (have for five years--they only worked when I was on Accutane, now they just make me purge whiteheads forever before my skin gets crusty and sore), salicylic acid astringent for oily skin, benzoyl peroxide on areas the prescription topicals seem to make the skin soft and greasy, and have been putting bandaids over old, purple areas with this stuff so it doesn't simply rub off.

Now I have two big disgusting cysts in addition to the rubbery smaller ones. I am so afraid it is the kojic acid. I don't know how else I will get rid of acne marks--this is supposed to be the best option, given that glycolic acid and Retin-A make my skin awful.

Sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know any other kojic acid products (preferably those without azeliac acid, which causes hair growth)?